Top News 4: Our Pictures Belong to Facebook.com

Facebook backs down


I heard about the new facebook.com policy: all pictures uploaded by facebook.com users are owned by Facebook. As expected, this generated a huge outrage by thousands of account owners. There is a Facebook group against the new policy that is 35,000 strong and growing. This week, Facebook took back the policy for the time being, allowing for a trial-like period to discuss the new rule.
Facebook, aside from Myspace is the most popular social networking website in the United States, so it should be ruled democratically. This story has several newsworthy aspects to it. The impact on American internet users is huge; to have their pictures become the property of a extremely large and global website is stripping them of their privacy. One of the reasons Facebook is more prolific than Myspace is because of its more private security options. By Facebook declaring that all uploaded pictures belong to them, their reputation does a 180.
This has been going on for less than a couple weeks, so the timeliness and currency are still applicable, especially because there is still a good possibility that they will return the policy. Facebook is very prominent, being a household name for kids, teens, and even adults. Lastly, this has become somewhat of a social, daresay a political, conflict between Facebook and its users. I’m surprised I have not seen any of this on a front page.